Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

How Many Consumers Actually Have VR Headsets?

Parks Associates released new consumer research this week showing that 2 percent of U.S. broadband households, or 2.3 million households, own a virtual reality headset. The survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households reportedly reveals that 5 percent of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a VR headset in 2016, an increase from only 1 percent who made a purchase the year prior.

“The big change in VR for 2016 has been the availability or pending availability of VR headsets from companies such as Facebook (Oculus Rift), Google (Google Cardboard) and HTC (Vive). Sony PlayStation VR is expected to be released in October. We expect gamers to be the initial market for VR,” Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates director of research, says. “VR is an immersive experience, and more is better for gamers – more immersion, better sound, better graphics, and more players. The mass market is more likely to adopt mobile VR, which will be less expensive and uses a tool – the smartphone – that the majority of U.S. consumers own.”

From the article "How Many Consumers Actually Have VR Headsets?" by Laura Hamilton.

Previously In The News

Roku Powers Ahead

According to findings from analyst firm Parks Associates, ownership of streaming media players has risen from about six per cent of US broadband households in 2010 to almost 40 per cent at the beginni...

Roku’s Share of Streaming Market Rising, Says Parks Report

As streaming becomes more popular as a way to consume TV programming, Roku is increasing the number of homes in which its devices are used, according to a new report from Parks Associates. In the f...

Managing for the Optimized Content Bundle

According to Parks Associates, over a quarter of millennials subscribe to three or more over-the-top video services, and more than half use at least two. However, a separate U.S. survey from Vanson Bo...

Google Makes First Major Chromecast Update Since 2015

It’s perhaps the most affordable living room OTT solution on the market. But as the Parks Associates graphic released in late May shows, Chromecast has been steadily losing market share to Roku, Amazo...